thin king

Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
So said William Shakespeare through Lord Polonius in the play Hamlet.

That being so, this advice has been passed along with time. It has served many who abided by it from getting into trouble too. Tales of people who suffered no end through borrowing from loan sharks abound, although there are laws prohibiting loansharking. And it is painful to lose both the loan and the friend too through lending.

On the other hand there are banks. A bank's main business is borrowing and lending, and what would the commercial world do without banks. And banks will not sustain and survive when there are no people borrowing and lending. And there are finance companies whose businesses help people to own things and then pay up slowly, and also rental shops where people can use things for a fee without owning them.

Borrowing requires trustworthiness and the means to return the loan, and lending suggests helpfulness and perhaps kindness. When these are in place would there be problem with borrowing and lending ?

It is easy to shut the gates of borrowing and lending when one is self-sufficient. Yet there are people who had to borrow out of being on the edge of life or in urgency, and people who like to lend out of helpfulness and wanting to share. And it is rare to know of people who never borrowed nor lent. How hard or dull life would have been for them.

What does one do after reading a good book. There are people who would recommend the book or lend it to a friend. There is a chance that the book would not be returned, and another chance that it would move on to another person. Their reasoning is that good things are better being shared with good friends, and good friends will withstand the trust. Perhaps this explains why some circle of friends enjoy good beer and cheers while others do not.

Cases of people who parted with their things forever through lending are many, but these did not bothered the lenders much because they had already exacted their usefulness, rather than keeping and having to get rid of them at a much later date when housekeeping.

Of course people ought to be cautious about lending precious items. Borrowing and lending serve good purposes when properly managed.

Have a nice day,
Ronald

# posted by chunmu @ 9:00 PM